Remote OpenClaw (macOS ⇄ remote host)

This flow lets the macOS app act as a full remote control for an OpenClaw gateway running on another host (desktop/server). It’s the app’s Remote over SSH (remote run) feature. All features—health checks, Voice Wake forwarding, and Web Chat—reuse the same remote SSH configuration from Settings → General.

Modes

Local (this Mac): Everything runs on the laptop. No SSH involved.
Remote over SSH (default): OpenClaw commands are executed on the remote host. The mac app opens an SSH connection with -o BatchMode plus your chosen identity/key and a local port-forward.
Remote direct (ws/wss): No SSH tunnel. The mac app connects to the gateway URL directly (for example, via Tailscale Serve or a public HTTPS reverse proxy).

Remote transports

Remote mode supports two transports:

SSH tunnel (default): Uses ssh -N -L ... to forward the gateway port to localhost. The gateway will see the node’s IP as 127.0.0.1 because the tunnel is loopback.
Direct (ws/wss): Connects straight to the gateway URL. The gateway sees the real client IP.

In SSH tunnel mode, discovered LAN/tailnet hostnames are saved as gateway.remote.sshTarget. The app keeps gateway.remote.url on the local tunnel endpoint, for example ws://127.0.0.1:18789, so CLI, Web Chat, and the local node-host service all use the same safe loopback transport.

Browser automation in remote mode is owned by the CLI node host, not by the native macOS app node. The app starts the installed node host service when possible; if you need browser control from that Mac, install/start it with openclaw node install ... and openclaw node start (or run openclaw node run ... in the foreground), then target that browser-capable node.

Prereqs on the remote host

Install Node + pnpm and build/install the OpenClaw CLI (pnpm install && pnpm build && pnpm link --global).
Ensure openclaw is on PATH for non-interactive shells (symlink into /usr/local/bin or /opt/homebrew/bin if needed).
Open SSH with key auth. We recommend Tailscale IPs for stable reachability off-LAN.

macOS app setup

Open Settings → General.
Under OpenClaw runs, pick Remote over SSH and set:
- Transport: SSH tunnel or Direct (ws/wss).
- SSH target: user@host (optional :port).
  - If the gateway is on the same LAN and advertises Bonjour, pick it from the discovered list to auto-fill this field.
- Gateway URL (Direct only): wss://gateway.example.ts.net (or ws://... for local/LAN).
- Identity file (advanced): path to your key.
- Project root (advanced): remote checkout path used for commands.
- CLI path (advanced): optional path to a runnable openclaw entrypoint/binary (auto-filled when advertised).
Hit Test remote. Success indicates the remote openclaw status --json runs correctly. Failures usually mean PATH/CLI issues; exit 127 means the CLI isn’t found remotely.
Health checks and Web Chat will now run through this SSH tunnel automatically.

Web Chat

SSH tunnel: Web Chat connects to the gateway over the forwarded WebSocket control port (default 18789).
Direct (ws/wss): Web Chat connects straight to the configured gateway URL.
There is no separate WebChat HTTP server anymore.

Permissions

The remote host needs the same TCC approvals as local (Automation, Accessibility, Screen Recording, Microphone, Speech Recognition, Notifications). Run onboarding on that machine to grant them once.
Nodes advertise their permission state via node.list / node.describe so agents know what’s available.

Security notes

Prefer loopback binds on the remote host and connect via SSH or Tailscale.
SSH tunneling uses strict host-key checking; trust the host key first so it exists in ~/.ssh/known_hosts.
If you bind the Gateway to a non-loopback interface, require valid Gateway auth: token, password, or an identity-aware reverse proxy with gateway.auth.mode: "trusted-proxy".
See Security and Tailscale.

Run openclaw channels login --verbose on the remote host. Scan the QR with WhatsApp on your phone.
Re-run login on that host if auth expires. Health check will surface link problems.

Troubleshooting

exit 127 / not found: openclaw isn’t on PATH for non-login shells. Add it to /etc/paths, your shell rc, or symlink into /usr/local/bin//opt/homebrew/bin.
Health probe failed: check SSH reachability, PATH, and that Baileys is logged in (openclaw status --json).
Web Chat stuck: confirm the gateway is running on the remote host and the forwarded port matches the gateway WS port; the UI requires a healthy WS connection.
Node IP shows 127.0.0.1: expected with the SSH tunnel. Switch Transport to Direct (ws/wss) if you want the gateway to see the real client IP.
Dashboard works but Mac capabilities are offline: this means the app's operator/control connection is healthy, but the companion node connection is not connected or is missing its command surface. Open the menu bar device section and check whether the Mac is paired · disconnected. For wss://*.ts.net Tailscale Serve endpoints, the app detects stale legacy TLS leaf pins after certificate rotation, clears the stale pin when macOS trusts the new certificate, and retries automatically. If the certificate is not system-trusted or the host is not a Tailscale Serve name, review the certificate or switch to Remote over SSH.
Voice Wake: trigger phrases are forwarded automatically in remote mode; no separate forwarder is needed.

Notification sounds

Pick sounds per notification from scripts with openclaw and node.invoke, e.g.:

bash

openclaw nodes notify --node <id> --title "Ping" --body "Remote gateway ready" --sound Glass

There is no global “default sound” toggle in the app anymore; callers choose a sound (or none) per request.

Remote control